Rock Band

Harmonix updates the hugely popular video game for the Beatles-- 45 songs from across their career are represented-- and gives it a markedly different vibe.

Here's the story of the Beatles, as told by the intro to The Beatles: Rock Band.They started as four lads in a basement club, covering Chuck Berry for hours at a stretch. Girls screamed, and the band got bigger and bigger 'til it stormed the world (specifically, America).Tours and celebrity and more screaming girls followed, until suddenly the world was a drag-- and they ascended a magic escalator to the sky, where they rode the giant elephant god Ganesha up to the edge of the creation.They became saints, or gods, or something just as sacred, and on a tablet it was written: "You don't mess with the Beatles."

That was Harmonix's mantra going into the project.The developers knew if they were going to handle one of the biggest properties in popular culture, they would take excruciating care to make it loyal, even worshipful.The visual design is warm and adoring, and each Beatle looks gentle and kind-- especially John Lennon, who's so beatific you almost forget that George Harrison has died, too.And the Beatles dominate the game. They're the only people on the virtual stage: Eric Clapton never plays guitar and Billy Preston and Yoko Ono are expunged.More importantly, the Beatles ignore you.Every song is shown with period dress and setting: You can't play "Helter Skelter" in the Cavern in Liverpool or "Boys" at their 1969 rooftop concert.When you screw up, the screen just fades to black.In the first few clubs, the camera regularly cuts to those girls in the audience, screaming, in love.But they're not screaming for you.

You, the player, are the disciple. You're here to study the music: To play as fast and loud as the band did in its youth, to finish the delicate "Dear Prudence" without a single bum note, to master Paul McCartney's bass line to "I Saw Her Standing There" on expert.The challenge is moderate compared to other music games, and harmony vocals are the only new feature: While the Beatles used strings, tape loops, and other effects, these are all channeled through the standard four instruments (guitar, bass, drums, and mic), and playing the strings for "I Am the Walrus" with the guitar controller works better than you might expect. But the harmony vocals make it a far better party game than previous Rock Band editions. I've played with two additional singers, a guy who likes to belt Rush and a woman who's in a choir, and listening to them chant "GUTEN MORGEN GUTEN MORGEN GUT" was worth the price right there.

The 45-track setlist balances better-known Beatles songs ("Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds", "Day Tripper") with deep cuts chosen for gameplay. (The loping, sad "Dig a Pony" is an instant favorite.)The game even bends the canon, reaching out to the Love soundtrack's mix of "Within You Without You" with "Tomorrow Never Knows", which gives you the melody of the first with the drums of the second.Many songs also cut off before their fade-outs-- which was the right call, but it sounds strange on a song as burned in your brain as "Yellow Submarine".

The first chapters take place in concert settings in front of screaming crowds.But after the Beatles quit the road in 1966, the game segues to the Abbey Road studio, where each song gets a "dreamscape."These vignettes recycle well-worn references for each song, and none of them would make the creators of Yellow Submarine lose sleep.Covering the band's psychedelic period, they're a thin metaphor for the fact that the band was well off their tits, but they also reinforce what an insular and magical place these recordings seem to emerge from-- especially if you skip the turmoil behind the scenes.

That's not to say the game ignores their history.Good scores unlock rare photos dug from the archives, as well as clips of sound and video. You get their 1963 Christmas fan club record, a rough rehearsal for "Ed Sullivan", and a promotional film for "Get Back" edited out of outtakes from the Let It Be film. And there are clips of the band just chatting or goofing around..They're candid, but the candidness doesn't make the band seem more human; rather, you feel like you're eavesdropping on a whole new level of divinity.

The storytelling is at its finest in the last act, the rooftop show in London in 1969.The audience has aged and the band is tired.We never watch them fight, but the break-up is implied in the climax of "I Want You (She's So Heavy)", where the camera jitters until the song cuts off.But encore "The End", the unannounced 45th song, is the proper send-off: Ultimately, the band was judged by the love they made.

The word "love" sums up the entire vision for the game.Where past Rock Band and Guitar Hero titles emphasized the thrills and the grinds of rock, The Beatles: Rock Band feels completely different: it's soothing and cozy, and the songs keep luring you back not just because they're excellent and fun, but because the familiar recordings, the nostalgic visuals, and the Beatles' smiling faces make a peaceful, loving place.As a painstakingly crafted piece of fandom, it's a bullseye.

But all this worship has a drawback.Discussing Rock Band 2, which doesn't use the likeness of any real stars, Harmonix's Helen McWilliams once told me, "We want it to be about you, and your rock star fantasy... You're there with your band, for each other, and you're fulfilling your rock star dream together, and the audience is there for you."The Beatles: Rock Band is the total opposite.The "characters" are untouchable, and the tracks don't even toss you a freestyle section.Your only choices are to get the song right, or not. Sure, it's a cliché that most videogames make you save the world, but at least in those games, you know you're needed.I've never felt less important in a game than this one.

But I'll let 'em get away with it. After all, they're the Beatles.

[Note: Click here for an overview of the 2009 Beatles reissues, including discussion of the packaging and sound quality.]